Sometimes you have to grind them out.
It wasn't always pretty, but the No. 8 Eagles (3-0) finished off the Thanksgiving week sweep with a 57-55 win over Pleasant Plains (2-1) at Our Savior's on Wednesday afternoon.
“We found a way to win it, we got tested,” said head coach Phillip Heppe. “We learned a lot.”
With the Eagles down 54-55 with 7.7 seconds left, the ball was in the hands of Preseason All-State member Jace Easley. He sliced through the lane and was fouled going for the go-ahead bucket. He hit both free throws in crunch time to give Our Savior's the lead — and the win.
“Jace Easley in an open court is pretty scary,” Heppe said.
What did Easley think of the final play?
“That’s what I lift weights for.”
After winning the first two games of the season by a combined 111 points, the Eagles were in a fistfight with Pleasant Plains. In the second half, the Eagles trailed by as many as eight points with 3:30 to play. A three-pointer from an and-one andd a pair of free throws from McCaffrey erased that deficit.
“I’m really, really proud of them,” Heppe said.
A few Jeremiah Perkins layups and some more back and forth had the game in a deadlock 47-47 with less than three minutes to go.
The key? Getting Perkins involved.
“He can be such a key player as we saw in the second half,” Heppe said.
Perkins had 6 points and 9 rebounds in the game, after putting up just two and two in the first half.
Aside from McCaffrey, Easley carried the load. What’s new? Just Jace Easley doing Jace Easley things. The Eagles offense was mostly stagnant in the first half, aside from Easley, who carried them. He had 16 points and five rebounds alone in the first half — he finished with 26 points and 13 rebounds while adding 5 assists, including the game-winning free throws at the end of the game.
Plains shot well from three connecting on five of its first 10 attempts from behind the arc, and ended up making nine from distance. The Eagles turnover-plagued first half mixed with Plains' touch from deep kept the game tight all day long.
“Every time we play a game, we’re gonna get everybody’s best shot,” Easley said.
Our Savior's could see its No. 8 ranking improve before its top-ten matchup with the Defending Indiana State Champion Immanuel Seymour.